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Tsunami victims begin to head home

By Rajesh Nair

PONDICHERRY, JAN. 3. A majority of the tsunami victims, staying in relief camps from December 26, have started moving back to their villages in the last two days. Many of them, however, return to the camps by evening, particularly women and children.

The villagers are heading home, primarily because of the lack of space and absence of toilet facilities in the camps. They also seem to prefer to cook their own food with the rice allotted by the Government as interim relief.

A survey by the Government in 45 relief camps on Sunday in Pondicherry and Karaikal found 10,500 people in them. The camps housed more than 30,000 after the tsunami struck, B.V. Selvaraj, Relief Commissioner, told The Hindu .

Despite the number of people in the camps dwindling, the Government does not plan to wind up the camps. They will continue till some sort of housing is found for those who have lost their homes.

For instance, residents of villages such as Periyakalapet, which were the worst hit, have not yet moved out of the camps, and continue to stay in the Pondicherry University campus.

A problem

One big problem that has cropped up in the distribution of relief is the claim made even by those people who were not affected by the tsunami.

Mr. Selvaraj said instructions had been given to all the relief distribution officers to make sure that the relief reaches only the needy. Non-compliance with this order will be dealt with strictly, he added.

An assessment by the Fisheries department revealed that of the 574 dead in the Union Territory, 474 belonged to the fishing community. The Government will soon start a family-wise survey in all the affected villages to begin long-term rehabilitation.

In some of the villages, the Government has already identified land for re-locating fishermen who have lost their houses.

Though the Government has not decided how far these houses should be from the coastline, the Coastal Regulation Act will be complied with, he said.

Housing

The Government has also asked for the Centre's assistance in designing housing for the fishermen. Although the fishermen are back in their villages, they are not sure when they will be able to resume fishing.

The Fisheries department's preliminary estimate shows that around 348 mechanised boats, 986 fibre reinforced catamarans and 1,512 wooden catamarans have been damaged.

According to S. Hemachandran, Secretary to Government, since there are only two boat building units in the Union Territory, at Karaikal and Pondicherry, the boats have to be got from Maharashtra and Gujarat.

The Government is already in touch with some of the manufacturers and has also asked the units here to increase their capacity.

When the rehabilitation is taken up, the Government plans to install telephones in every village to allow easy communication.

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